Franklin & Marshall strives to set an appropriate balance between retention of electronic backup files to allow for responsible management of our systems and services and the need to eliminate data that should no longer be retained. What follows outlines our retention policy.

When attempting to make a specific determination as to how long any particular piece of data from an individual user’s account may be retained or recoverable, it is important to keep in mind both the retention policies and procedures outlined below. And as well, the College’s provisioning/deprovisioning matrix. This matrix defines how long a user’s account may remain active after they depart and there is some variation based upon user type. (student, faculty, alumni, emeritus, etc.)

Note: At the request of College legal counsel, restrictions on deletion of certain data and/or files, typically referred to as a "litigation hold," may be implemented, which would supersede the retention periods outlined in F&M’s standards Such data and/or files shall be retained by the College until notice from the College's legal counsel.

Retention of backup files for data and servers that reside on campus

A limited access document is available to active students and employees (requires F&M credentials to view): Backup Retention Standards